This review was made possible via an ARC through NetGalley.

These Burning Stars is a space fantasy with strong religious themes and ideas around identity and Queerness. Esek, Chono, Six, and Jun are not the most likeable of protagonists but they are compelling and their motivations make sense within the world. I loved how far Six was willing to go to achieve their goals and how it played into the start of their character arc within the novel.

If you want messy women, absolutely give this book a shot.

The novel opens with some interesting conversations around gender (all children in that culture are 'it' until they're old enough to declare their gender) and the book never completely leaves that conversation. As it goes on, Six's entire character is wrapped up Esek declaring they are still 'it'.

I'm genuinely interested to see how the MCs' stories will move forward in the sequel because the door is wide open for more conversations with no easy answers and interesting explorations around Queerness.

What drew me into These Burning Stars immediately were the sharply drawn characters and their epic struggles for revenge and vindication. In unforgettable portraits, we follow Esek Nightfoot and a character known as Six, both violent, determined and deviously clever at trying to destroy each other. Much of the narrative follows the perspective of Chono, a cleric of decidedly more reserved nature, though also a skillful fighter when she has to be. The story unfolds as planet-hopping battles of individuals caught up in webs of intrigue among powerful families.

The opening chapter fits the reader into the mind of Esek Nightfoot who is sadistic, manipulative, vengeful, beautiful and impulsively brutal. As a leading figure of a powerful family in the universe of the Kindom, an interplanetary dominion, Esek reviews the young recruits at a school for future elite members known as Hands of the Kindom. Hands are supposed to separate themselves from their aristocratic family politics and devote themselves solely to preserving order, but, of course, Esek breaks all the rules and is constantly scheming to build power so that she can one day become the head of the Nightfoot family. There are three groups of Hands: clerics (Esek is the youngest cleric in a century at twenty-two), cloaks, the thuggish police, and secretaries, who specialize in the law and the accumulation of power.
...........
Esek’s mission is to secure a memory “coin” or holographic recording of one person’s memory of a critical event in Kindom history. A genius programmer or caster, known as Sidestep, is also seeking the coin that has come into the possession of a notorious pirate. We soon learn that the coin relates in some way to the story of the genocide of a people known as the Jeveni, whose home planet was destroyed and its surviving people turned into lowly workers and suspected terrorists during their long diaspora.

The major families of the Kindom have been fighting over control of the most important fuel source in this universe, a source the Jeveni had once controlled. Sidestep’s real name is Jun Ironway, a member of a Jeveni family she is determined to protect. While Esek and Chono pursue Jun in the present, Six and Esek follow their own game of hunter and hunted in the past, as Esek seeks a knock-out blow to destroy her nemesis. It’s a complex story of family intrigue, revenge and the quest for vindication of a long-oppressed people.

This is high adventure but also written with subtle observations of each character. I found it gripping all the way to its powerful ending. The tension around Esek and Six and their interactions with the other major characters are unforgettable.

I was provided an advanced reader copy in exchange for a review. I think I heard of the author via another of my new favorite authors, Michael Mammay. I'm glad he helped push this book to me.

The book is an exciting read, although dense. Humans arrived at and colonized a cluster of star systems some 1600 years prior to the events of the story. They developed a complex culture, a multi-god religion, and an elaborate political and economic system. The reader is dropped into this sea, or the "Black Ocean" of space, and told to sink or swim. But I found it worth the effort.

The story opens with Esek Nightfoot, a cleric and daughter of one of the principle families of the Treble, arriving at a training academy for clerics. After an incident of what proves to be Esek's signature cruelty and wanton capriciousness, we then meet another cleric Chono, who is a novitiate under Esek. They are on a mission to find a recording which can upend their worlds.

In the world of the burning stars, gender is a matter of choice, and who one sleeps with is not a major consideration. Esek is a born killer, and she operates with a number of equally ruthless people. Finally, there is an ethnic and religious separatist group, the Jeveni, further complicating matters. Again, this is a dense read, but well worth the effort.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5827276280

I loved this story! The characters were absolutely amazing, with so many layers and facets that they really came to life in this story. I loved the world--the way it was described was so compelling and it really sucked me into the story. I enjoyed the way gender and sexuality was presented in this story, too. This story was a really well-done space opera exploration of heroes, oppression, and character. I absolutely cannot wait for more from this author, and I really can't wrap my head around the fact that this is apparently a debut novel!

These Burning Stars is a mix of space opera, political scheming, and mentor-student relationships (where the student quickly surpasses their mentor). Information is gleaned between barbed words and honeyed threats. The grip of an empire is maintained by tight control of information and resources (or is it?). Rebellion is licking at the edges of a planetary system rife with secrets and calculated moves.

In this entire story, the opening of what seems to be even greater upheavals to come, we follow the interconnected lives of Six, Chono, and Esek. They were all sent to learn and become one of the Hands (Cleric, Cloak, or Secretary), the ruling government of the Kindom. But as with all governments, there is tension, infighting, and backstabbing (even if not overt). Six and Chono are tied to Esek and her activities, her righteous defense of her family and matriarch. They are all pawns in a larger game, and no one seems to have the entire board in view or know all the moves.

Six has information that could topple Esek's family, the Nightfoots, and the Kindom as well. Esek and Chono are sent to find this new information and forced to work together again, after having parted ways years before. To find Six, they track a caster with ties to both Esek and Six. All of this occurs amid the backdrop of a growing rebellion and a Kindom fraying at the edges.

I loved the shift from present to past, which is how we get a deeper look at the motivations driving our characters. There are enough threads to allow you to see what may be coming, but also enough misdirection to be surprised as to what truly is going on. I love that no one is purely good or evil, and that trust is not easily gained (but suspicion is in ample supply). Allegiances are shaky, motivations lean toward survival, and even revenge gets muddied in the light of a larger cause. I look forward to the next books in the series, as there is a lot of world left to discover.

Bethany Jacob's is one of the most amazing writers I've seen in a long time. The characters were amazing, you loved them but also hated them. They were so complex it made my head spin trying to figure out what they'd do next. The world building was phenomenally done, I don't have a single complaint about it. This was perfection and I need the next book ASAP.

Thank you to Little Brown Book Group and NetGalley for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is an excellent debut novel by a very promising author. However, I went into this book without reading the description. Science fiction is my least favorite genre and because of that I have very little experience. Because of that, I don’t have much to compare this novel to. I think this book was excellently written with exciting characters. I personally wasn’t a fan of what I assume was transgender inclusion, only because the pronouns were hard to follow. But for readers who prefer sci-fi, this book would be a great read.

This is a brilliant book. This debut novel by Bethany Jacobs hits all the space opera feels. We have a cruel villainess, a corrupt government, a pious priest and an ephemeral person who changes constantly yet is themselves constant throughout, upon which the story revolves like the axis of the solar system itself. This story has politics, violence, tribalism, planets and brutality. I truly cannot go into it further without spoiling things. One beautiful thing I loved in this book though is the gendering or not gendering of people in this system. It is beautiful and allows a gender fluidity that I appreciate. If you enjoy a book of hidden heroes, violent oppressors and deep machinations, you will enjoy this book. I cannot wait for the next one by this author. It will be worth the wait.

Solid sci-fi with an interesting plot and characters. I can see why there are many recommendations.

Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!

This book kept surprising me in the best ways, from the first chapter all the way to the last. With a cast of complex, complicated characters, elements of found family, a religious interplanetary backdrop, and a brewing rebellion, "These Burning Stars" is a clever space opera that kept me wanting to come back for more. It's not a fast read, but I felt engaged the entire time. And of of the twists--it makes me want to reread the whole book from the beginning!

The publisher says this is part of a trilogy, but I felt like this one stood on its own quite well.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs is adult sci-fi following Jun, an occasional thief, that has gotten her hands on a secret that could destroy the Kingdom. Though it doesn’t start that way. It begins following clerics of the Righteous Hand of the Kingdom and continues weaving the past through the three different POVs: Esek Nightfoot, Cleric Chono and Jun. Esek and Chono’s storylines focus quite a bit on the mysterious Six, while Jun seems to be completely separate, but they quickly come together.

I don’t know if I can express how much I utterly enjoy this book. To start, the title grabbed my attention and got me excited for the book. And let me tell you, I enjoyed this story SO much. All the characters were amazingly strong in their own ways and Jacobs had me invested in every single one of them. At one point I started questioning how the author had me rooting for Esek Nightfoot, it was done so masterfully. The reveals at the end are all fantastic, particularly the one that relates to the Wheel.

The world is well developed and feels real, the lore deep. Every place felt like a place I could touch. It was vivid and beautifully described.

I loved These Burning Stars and I can’t wait to read the second. I’ll be smashing that pre-order button when it’s available.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for allowing me to read this book as an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Pros:
- The characters are so good. All of them are distinct, with strong POVs and voices. I really like Chono a lot.
- The world is vibrant and beautiful, all the places were easy to visualize.
- I loved the world building around the Jeveni a ton.
- Fantastic story all around.
- Jun and Liis are fantastic together.

Cons:
- I could have done without the sex scene, but it didn’t ruin the story.

Cleric Esek Nightfoot is, on her face, all that a cleric of the Kingdom should be. Beautiful, clever, and dangerous, but too brutal by far and beset with Ambitions. A file stolen from her family comes back to light in the hands of a legendary rogue caster, Sunstep, sparking a desperate race to recover it before the secrets it contains rend the Kingdom’s control asunder. Paired with the most loyal of her former novitiates, ever stoic Chono, Esek is charged with tracking down Sunstep and recovering the file. Chono is meant to ensure that she returns it. But a ghost is in the winds, a former fellow initiate to Chono, a child who’s chances at a future were ruined at Esek’s whims, an echo manipulating everything from the shadows. They hunt Esek as surely as she hunts them. When they meet again it may destroy them all.

I have something of a hard time figuring out my thoughts on Bethany Jacobs’ These Burning Stars. The writing is excellent, as is the character work, and the world building feels quite nice. But I also almost put it down real early on because Esek felt almost comedically too much, too happy to indulge in any awful idea that struck her. I rolled my eyes so much early on. But then there were more chapters from Chono’s perspective or Jun Ironway, Sunstep’s, perspective that felt a lot more grounded. A lot less above it all and less callous.

Funnily, being too much makes Esek a really good contrast to Chono, who does everything she can to be a good cleric who serves the people she has been assigned to. Who is loyal to the point of it being a legitimate character flaw. And likewise, Esek contrasts with Six, who is as absolutely in control as Esek is but without the chaotic trappings. Esek who is aggressively front and center across the book, versus Six who haunts the periphery, a major concern for Esek and Chono and a very real threat but not a present one for much of the page space. Jun does not really feel like she fits this little cycle of comparisons, but that feels appropriate. She has less of a connection to any of those three, has a goal very separate from Kingdom business of any sort. Her being on the run with this world-shaking secret file does a lot to facilitate the plot and keep it moving at a good rate.

Jun being on the run does a lot to keep the plot going, because These Burning Stars jumps around in its chronology quite a bit. From the present day to back when Chono was one of Esek’s novitiates to when they teamed up again to hunt down Six. The timeline jumping is used well for the most part. I did have a couple moments where I had needed to put the book down for one reason or another and then when I came back I found myself needing to pause and go back a little to figure out when I was and what was going on. This was not too much of a problem though.

The real thing for me is, These Burning Stars wants to be the start of this big space opera. Big characters, twisting plots and machinations, world spanning plots. But I feel like building back to something that will allow these characters to actually do anything will be difficult to work out, or it will take quite a bit of willing suspension of disbelief to work. And I say this having walked away from the book, including its big sequel hook and the outright ad for the next novel, looking forward to what comes next. There is plenty that Jacobs still has to work with after tying up These Burning Stars without the book feeling incomplete. I look forward to that second book, but it will need a really solid base to launch from.

Where I end on the review is that I do really look forward to the sequel to These Burning Stars. I had some frustrations with Esek as a character early on. I had a couple of slippery points with the timeline shifts. But I also ultimately had a really good time reading this book and I want to see more of what Jacobs can do as she expands this setting. There are so many things I have not even touched on here with the setting and its cultural norms and the political stress brought about by the Kingdom using their clerics and assassins to maintain order. It is really solid writing and well worth picking up if you have the time. These Burning Stars gets a four out of five from me.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Orbit for the eARC of this book.

I am slowly dipping my toe into the sci-fi world, and this one felt like unwrapping a gift just for me. Jacobs has woven in so many elements that play off of each other spectacularly, and it never feels too clunky, despite being full with details and world specific language. With this book, Jacobs drops you into the Treble and the politics of the Kindom, and I really loved getting to know the world over the course of the book.

This book had so many things I really enjoy: revenge plots, queer characters, cool fights, and extensive religious systems. There was lots of tech and lots of scheming, and I was definitely invested. The main characters we follow, Jun (Liis and Masar included, Esek, and Chono were all so complex in their being and their motives behind the choices they were making. I loved the interwoven thread of Six and how the characters were connected to them, and I loved trying to figure out who Six was (I was never right, still fun).

Along with this, I loved the way the story was told in multiple timelines through the different perspectives. I really enjoy this kind of story telling and how things start to get more intense as the storylines begin to converge.

Jacobs created an incredibly complex and yet not confusing world, complete with an elaborate political and religious systemic. These elements added so many layers to the story, and once you get an understanding of the basics, it does not feel overwhelming at all to have so many moving parts.

All in all, this was a big hit for me and I’m so excited to be able to pick up my own copy in October and then eagerly await book two. 5⭐️

this was okay, but read a little juvenile and i didn't feel connected to the characters or what happens to them at all. i can see other reader enjoying this a lot tho!

— thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the free digital ARC.

For the first time in a long time I said "Wow this book is similar to an Iain Banks novel". There's a lot of comparisons to A Memory Called Empire and other recent novels but this really reads more like a Banks novel about chattel slavery and the corruption of religion to control the masses. Think Surface Detail meets Against a Dark Background. Even the twist is Banks-esque.

AND NONE OF THIS IS A COMPLAINT.

This was a great and interesting read. The universe is extremely interesting and I'm going to be impatiently waiting for the sequel, which I'm sure will be bonkers but I do hope the author is able to generate a twist like the one she expertly placed in this book.

Put this on your reading lists, folks. It's one of the best books of the year.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I really enjoyed this book, I had no idea what I was about to read, but I really enjoyed every minute. Will certainly be looking forward to more of Ms. Jacob's books! A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

Thank you to Bethany Jacobs, Orbit, and NetGalley for giving me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I got this book, I had absolutely no idea what I was in for. I thought it was going to be some heist book where you get both perspectives, but in reality it was so much more. Jacobs does such an incredible job with the world building. From the first chapter I was hooked. Jacobs does such a good job telling you all that you need to know, but leaving you with questions about the setting that make you all the more excited to read book two when it comes out.

Now let me tell you, I have never read a book that has a plot twist like this one. I have been surprised before by other books, but when the big twist came around, boy was I not expecting it. Don't get me wrong, it makes complete sense after you read it, but leading up to the big reveal, my mind was no where near the realm of where Jacobs ended up taking the story. It created more questions and theories in my mind about what is going to happen next which again, makes me excited to read the next book.

One of my favorite parts outside of the world-building and the twist was the character development. You really get to know Jun. Esek, and Chono really well. Their motives and actions made sense to me, something that does not always happen with a book. While we do not get a direct perspective from Six, we do get to know them really well in spite of it, which makes them feel like a main character rather than this mystery figure which was a cool experience.

Personally, I cannot wait for book two, in spite of the fact that it is likely at least a year out.

One of the challenges of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy category is that sometimes the two genres tend to blend and if you are looking elements specific to one genre and the elements of the other genre tend to take a prominent position, you may, in the end, not get what you are seeking. I felt that with this title. I was looking for Sci-Fi, and this clearly has more of the fantasy elements in it. Maybe it was just me, but I had a hard time following the narrative. The gender fluidity of some of the characters may have led to part of the confusion, but the jumping of place and time did not help as much either. Perhaps others will prefer this title more than I.

Unfortunately this one didn't quite work for me. I think what I struggled with most is that I felt no connection to any of the characters. We knew things about them, but they never felt more than general broadstrokes to me. Because I felt like I didn't know these characters, I didn't end up very invested in them or their stories. Related to this is the fact that, for me, the story felt like it really lacked a sense of interiority. The writing didn't feel emotional or personal to these characters; it got us from point A to point B, told us some basic things we needed to know about these characters, but I never felt like it went beyond this. Wish I'd enjoyed this one more, but sadly it was a bit of a disappointment.

Space Opera is a genre that can either soar spectacularly or flop tragically, and a lot of this is down to two things: pace and scale. Bethany Jacobs has knocked it out of the park on both categories, creating a story sizzling with tension and rich with imagination. The story follows three loosely connected characters in a spacefaring society reliant on rare mineral called Jeveite. Esek Nightfoot, the scheming, savage daughter of a Jeveite dynasty, Chono, Esek's noviate and a cleric with a melodious voice and a gift for peacekeeping, and Jun, a scrappy programmer on the run with dangerous information. All three are connected by a mysterious figure called Six, a seemingly all-powerful con artist with a dangerous family lineage.

Much like Ninefox Gambit or A Memory Called Empire the story can be a bit slow to start, thrusting the reader into a deeply complicated world and relying on them to trust the author long enough for pieces to fall into place. As difficult as the kickoff can be to follow for the first few chapters, it is well worth the wait, building up to bombastic, nail-biting action and one of the most gasp-worthy twists in recent memory. I literally flipped back and read almost 1/5 of the book again with the added content just to marvel at Jacobs' cleverness. The characters, especially the three POV protagonists, are beautifully established for the genre, with deep, emotional relationships and clear motivations. Jun was my standout favorite, especially her hot/cold but ultimately tender relationship with her partner. Fans of Yoon Ha Lee, Seth Dickinson, and Arkady Martine will find a new author to follow in Bethany Jacobs, and I look forward to this debut getting shared with the world.